Julian Mortimer

“I was just coming to that. They met the next morning in our treasure-house, which you visited to-night, to talk the matter over. They had both seen enough to satisfy them that father had been carried away as a prisoner, and they had no difficulty in guessing at the object his captors had in view. If they told the commander of the fort he would send his cavalry scouting about among the mountains, and that would alarm the robbers, and perhaps lead them to murder father. The first thing to be done was to find out where he was confined, and it would be time enough to call in the help of the troops when that had been ascertained. But with all their efforts – and they did everything men could do – they failed to gain the slightest clew to his whereabouts. He had disappeared as completely as though he had never existed at all. They spent years in the search, but until you told them what you had seen to-night they knew no more about the matter than they did when father was first captured.

“About four years ago I thought I was getting old enough and shrewd enough to take a part in the search myself; but Silas and Juan would not permit it. They said that as long as I kept out of sight everybody would believe me dead, but that if I showed my face I would be recognized at once, and Reginald would send some one after me who would make sure work of me. But at last I could endure the inactivity no longer; and once, when Silas was away in the mountains, I came out of the cave in which I had spent the best part of four years of my life, and began to look about to find something to do. Most of father’s servants were gone, and their places were supplied with new ones; but there were some of the old ones left, and among them were Romez, Antoine and Ithuriel. The latter had been promoted by Richard Mortimer, as he called himself, to the position of body-servant; Romez held his old position as hostler, and Antoine was still a herdsman. I lived with the latter for two years, assisting him in his duties, and waiting impatiently for something to turn up. I was careful to keep out of sight of Reginald and Richard, but mingled freely with the rest of the people about the rancho, and even with the soldiers and settlers, and no one knew me. I paid regular nightly visits to old Juan, who lived in the cave where father’s money was hidden, and once while on my way there something happened that suggested to me a plan of action.

“There are two passage-ways that lead to the cellar – one from the house and the other from the outside of the hill. I always went in through the latter, and I went very slowly and cautiously too, for fear of finding some one in there whom I did not care to see. One night I did find some persons there – Reginald and Richard, who were examining the walls of the cellar by the aid of a lantern. Old Juan said they used to spend a good deal of time there looking for the concealed treasure.

“I was so surprised to see them that I did not think of retreat, and after I had time to collect my thoughts I did not feel any inclination to turn back. Although I had often seen the men at a distance, this was the first time since that memorable night that I had ever been so near to them, and I wanted to take a good look at them. Silas and Juan had often told me in the most emphatic language never to attempt to harm one of them, even if I got the opportunity – and knowing that they had father’s welfare at heart, and that they were wiser than myself, I had promised to obey. But I could not resist the temptation to draw my rifle to my shoulder and cover both their heads with the sight – they were standing closely together and squarely in line, so that one bullet would have passed through them both – telling myself the while how easily I could shoot them, and how richly they deserved it. While I stood in this position Reginald turned toward me. Finding that I was discovered, I did not lower my rifle, but kept it at my shoulder, determined that if he offered to molest me I would resist him to the best of my ability. But I soon found that I had nothing to fear. He stood for a moment gazing at me with eyes that seemed almost ready to start from their sockets, and said in a husky voice:

“Merciful heavens! Dick, look there!”

Dick looked, and one look was enough. He pronounced my name with a shriek, and dropping his lantern, fled from the cellar, closely followed by his cousin. At first I was greatly astonished at their behavior, but after thinking the matter over, I began to understand it. Reginald and Richard are very ignorant men, in spite of their fine flow of language, and of course they are superstitious. They believe in signs and omens, and apparitions, and knowing that they had put me at the bottom of the lake, they could not comprehend how I came to be standing there alive and unharmed. This, as I have said, suggested to me a plan of action. I knew all about those secret passage-ways, and I made use of them to keep those two guilty men in a constant state of alarm. I gave up herding cattle and spent all my time loitering about the house, listening to the conversations between Reginald and his followers, and showing myself whenever I saw an opportunity to frighten somebody. I tied a piece of thick green cloth over the bull’s-eye of a dark lantern, and carrying this in my hand I used to wander about the passage-ways of nights, uttering the most unearthly shrieks and howls. I paid regular visits to Reginald’s sleeping-room and Dick’s, and took possession of everything I could carry away, such as money, weapons, clothing and furniture. Old Juan undertook to watch the cellar. He showed himself every time Reginald, Richard, or Pedro went in there, and finally frightened Richard so badly that he left the house and went to live in a little cabin he built in the mountains.

“One night I went into a room to see what I could pick up, and whom should I find there but Ned Sanders and an outlaw friend of his fast asleep in bed. I took possession of their weapons, carried them into the passage-way out of their reach, and then placing my lantern in one corner, and taking my stand in the middle of the room where the light would fall squarely on my face, began to groan awfully. I was not long in arousing them, and when their eyes were fairly open they were not long in leaving the room either. I never found an opportunity to appear to Sanders after that, for he shunned the rancho as if it had been a grizzly bear’s den.”

“I spent a good many months in this way, and at last finding that I could learn nothing about father, I went to herding cattle again. In the meantime Uncle Reginald and Sanders had organized a band of robbers and horse-thieves; and this, as I afterward learned, was the occasion of a fierce quarrel between the cousins, who came to blows over it. Richard didn’t want anything to do with such an organization, believing that it would endanger the success of their plans, but Reginald carried his point. Richard never forgave his cousin for that, and being determined to be revenged upon him he has been working for the last two years to obtain possession of all father’s money, intending as soon as he gets it to decamp and leave Reginald in the lurch.”

CHAPTER XXVII

FRED’S STORY, CONCLUDED

“BELIEVING that some of the members of this band of robbers knew where father was,” continued White-horse Fred, “I watched for an opportunity to join it, and finally succeeded in my object. I became one of the runners, or couriers; that is, it was my duty to convey orders and the stolen property from one point to another. It was a subordinate position, although I ran just as much risk as Sanders, or any other member of the band who did the stealing, and I knew that as long as I held it I could not hope to learn much of the secret business of the organization; consequently I worked hard for promotion, and, if I am to believe what I have been told, I did some reckless things. At any rate, it wasn’t long before the name of White-horse Fred became pretty well known about here. I have been chased and shot at by soldiers and settlers more times than I can remember, and I have been in the fort when the officers were talking about me and laying plans for my capture.”

“Why didn’t they recognize you?” asked Julian.

“I didn’t say that I was well known, did I? I said my name was. The officers didn’t know who I was – that’s the reason they didn’t recognize me. There were only five men who knew me by the name I bore – Smirker, and the four fellows at Hale’s rancho. No one dreamed that White-horse Fred and the apparition who kept Uncle Reginald’s rancho in such an uproar were one and the same person, and I had emphatic orders from Silas and Juan never to reveal myself. Everybody had heard of the queer doings at Uncle Reginald’s, and it was whispered about among the robbers that Fred Mortimer and old Juan had risen from their graves to torment their murderers. I was in hopes that we would soon frighten Reginald away; but he had come there after father’s money, and he was determined he would not go until he got it.

“All this while – my story has now covered the space of more than seven years – Reginald was keeping father closely confined in some hidden prison, hoping to break his spirit and force him to tell where his money was concealed. But father remained firm, and Reginald became tired of waiting at last, and so did Sanders. The latter finally thought up another plan by which to obtain possession of the treasure, and when he had matured it he went to Reginald to talk it over.

“Old Juan, who was always on the watch, saw him go into the rancho, and believing that he had some private business to transact that it might be well for him to overhear, he went into the passage-way, opened the secret door that led into Reginald’s sleeping-room, and set himself to listen. We afterward learned that there was another listener to that conversation, and it was Richard. He and Reginald were now at open enmity. He never made his appearance at the rancho in the day-time, but loitered about there of nights, searching everywhere for the money, and taking notes of all that was going on – and I ought to say right here that Richard and Sanders, who had hitherto been fast friends, had a falling out. Richard, for some reasons of his own, did not want his cousin to know that you were alive. Sanders and Smirker were the only ones beside himself who were acquainted with the secret, and as soon as they found out that he wanted it kept from Reginald’s knowledge they demanded yellow boys as the price of their silence. Richard supplied their wants as long as he could, but at last his funds were exhausted and he could obtain no more. Sanders had been expecting this, and having pumped Richard’s pockets dry, he deserted him and went over to Reginald.

“‘Capen,’ said Sanders, when he and Reginald had locked themselves in the bed-room in which their private interviews were always held, ‘I’m gettin’ monstrous tired of waitin’ fur a sight o’ them big nuggets. The old major’s never goin’ to give in – he’ll die fust.’

“‘I am afraid so,’ replied Reginald; ‘but what can I do more than I have done? It is a very easy thing to deprive a man of his liberty, but it’s quite a different matter to make him open his mouth when he’s determined he won’t. If we had only been smart enough to keep the boys alive, we could have worked on his feelings through them. But he knows they are dead, and that’s what makes him so desperate.’

“‘I know nary one of ’em hain’t dead,’ replied Sanders. ‘I mean, you see – ’

“‘Yes, I know what you mean. You mean that they are both dead, but that one of them has come back and walks around nights,’ said Reginald, looking all about the room as if he expected to see something frightful. ‘But you haven’t seen the other – Julian – have you.’

“‘No; but I know he’s alive. Oh, it’s a fact,’ added Sanders, seeing by the expression on Reginald’s face that he was hardly prepared to believe this. ‘He wasn’t never hurt at all. Fred was flung into the lake and drownded – an’ I don’t see why in creation he don’t stay thar – but Julian wasn’t.’

“And with this preface, Sanders went on to tell what Richard had done with you, and why he had saved you alive. He said that from some remarks Richard had accidentally let fall he had learned pretty nearly where you could be found, and added that for a suitable consideration he would produce you.

“‘An’ when we get him out here, capen, we’ll have two strings to our bow,’ continued Sanders. ‘I don’t go in very strong fur attemptin’ to work on the feelin’s of the major – leastways not till we have tried something else – ’cause he’s awfully hard-headed, an’ when he onct makes up his mind to a thing he’s as sot as one of the Rocky Mountains. Thar’s one other man in the world who knows whar the nuggets is hid, an’ if we can get hold of him, I b’lieve we can make him open his mouth. It’s Silas Roper. You see, him an’ old Juan used to do purty much as they pleased here in the major’s time, an’ they knowed all about his private business matters. Juan would be the best one to work on, ’cause he hain’t got Silas’s grit, but he hain’t come back here in sich shape that we can manage him.’

“‘But we don’t know where Silas is,’ said Reginald.

“‘Never mind. He’s about here somewhar, an I’ll bet a hoss onto it. An’ I’ll bet on another thing, too: As soon as Silas finds out that we’ve got Julian here he’ll come out of his hidin’-place, an’ we can captur’ him. Understand my plan, don’t you?’

“Reginald did understand it, and gave it his hearty approval. He spent an hour talking the matter over with Sanders, giving him some very minute instructions, so that there could be no possible chance for failure, and brought the interview to an end by telling him a long list of lies to be repeated to you, and furnishing him money to bear his expenses to the States.”

“I have often wondered what object Sanders could have had in misrepresenting things as he did,” remarked Julian.

“I can tell you. Reginald thought it very probable that you had been left in some thickly settled part of the country, and he was afraid that Sanders, if left to himself, might attempt to carry you away by force. By doing that he might have aroused the settlers and the officers of the law in the neighborhood, and thus defeated his plans. If he had once succeeded in getting you out on the prairie away from everybody, he would have thrown off his mask and appeared in his true character very quickly.

“Sanders started for the States that very night, and so did Richard. The latter was determined that if he could not possess father’s money nobody should, and he hoped to reach your hiding-place in advance of Sanders, and dispose of you so effectually that you never could be found. Old Juan told Silas about it when he came in from the mountains, and he also started for the States, intending to wait for you at St. Joe, and to take charge of you if Sanders brought you there. He succeeded in getting hold of you at last, and brought you to the mountains. Richard, finding himself outwitted, joined your train in disguise, hoping to find an opportunity to shoot you during the journey, while Sanders came on ahead and raised a band of Indians to attack the train. He had been promised $5,000 if he would deliver you into Reginald’s hands, and that money he was determined to have. Our affairs have been pretty well mixed up for the last eight years, but this night will see them straightened out again.”

“I certainly hope so. But, Fred, why didn’t Silas, when he found me, tell me that he was a friend, and that he would assist me?”

“He did tell you that. If he had told you more, would you have believed him? Hadn’t Sanders deceived you and made you suspicious of everybody? When you and Silas were sitting on the steps of the hotel in St. Joe, and he told you that he knew who you were, didn’t you jump up and run away from him? The old fellow isn’t much given to talking anyhow. He believes in actions rather than words. You know that he was captured by Sanders and some of his band on the night the train was attacked, and that he escaped from them the next morning.”

“What would Reginald have done to him if he had been brought to the rancho?”

“He would have tried to force him to tell where father’s money was hidden, and if he had refused, as he certainly would have done, that would have been the last of Silas. Then Reginald would have used you to frighten father, telling him that he had you in his power, and that if he didn’t tell where that money was he would do something dreadful to you.”

“What was Reginald’s object in treating me so kindly? Why didn’t he keep me a close prisoner?”

“Why, he wanted to make Silas Roper show himself, so that he could be captured. That could never be done by shutting you up. The best way was to give you full swing, and allow you to roam about as much as you pleased, for then Silas would be sure to see you, and you would sooner or later get into the habit of meeting him regularly; and when that state of affairs had been brought about, it would be but little trouble for Sanders and some of his band to surprise and capture Silas. In order to make you contented and willing to stay with him, Reginald provided you with every comfort, and told you that story about your being the sole heir to the property. He thought that would serve as well as bolts and bars to keep you about the rancho, for no boy in full possession of his senses would be likely to run away while he believed that he had a million or two in prospect.

“I was out riding my route on the night you arrived, but old Juan was on the watch as usual, and he knew when you were brought into the rancho. He frightened Richard, and made him abandon the idea of carrying you off to the mountains; and when you fell down in a swoon, he and Romez took you back to your room and put you to bed. It was Juan who wrote the note you received, and opened your windows the next morning before you awoke.”

“I shall never forget how surprised I was to find that some one had been in there,” observed Julian.

“When I visited Juan the next morning I found Silas with him. They told me what had happened the night before, adding that you had just gone out riding on Snowdrop. I was very much disappointed, for I had hoped to meet you as soon as you arrived. You see, to explain how you came by that mare, I make my home with Antoine, the herdsman. When I return from Hale’s I generally go there and leave my horse, and then set off to visit old Juan. Yesterday morning when I went home I found Snowdrop missing, and Antoine told me that Reginald had taken her. He gave her to you, and that one move on his part did us more good than eight years’ hard work has done.

“I had an encouraging piece of news for Silas. Smirker had told me that he knew where father was confined, and the trapper and I, after talking the matter over, decided to arrest him, and force the secret from him. On the same day he told me this he communicated to me another piece of news, and that was that he had two holes to his burrow, and a way of escape to be made use of in case of an attack from the soldiers or settlers; and thinking that if we concluded to make a raid on him when Silas came home, it might be well enough to know where that other hole to his burrow was, I spent one whole day in looking for it. I discovered it at last, and when I came down through it and burst into his cabin, Smirker was so angry that he had half a mind to shoot me.”

“He told me about that,” said Julian. “But did he never suspect your identity?”

“Never until this morning; and then he did not suspect me at first, but you. He was one of those who threw me into the lake, and when he learned that I wouldn’t stay there, and that I had come back to Reginald’s rancho, and was cutting up dreadful shines, he became badly frightened. He often talked to me about it, and acknowledged that he was afraid that the “haunt,” as he called it, might take it into his head to visit his cabin. When he saw us together this morning, and found out that one of us was a Mortimer, he knew the other must be also, for he says we look exactly alike, and so does Silas. Hale and his crowd must also see a very strong resemblance, or else you never could have passed yourself off for me in that rancho, where they are constantly on the lookout for treachery. Smirker believed that you were White-horse Fred, and also that you were Fred Mortimer, and the discovery he thought he had made alarmed him greatly. He breathed much more freely after you had gone out, and so did I.

“For myself I should have felt no fears, had it not been for one thing. I had with me a bag containing nuggets, dust and money, which I was to deliver to Smirker; if he searched me and found that bag in my pocket, he would know that I had deceived him – that I was the real White-horse Fred – and my life wouldn’t be worth a moment’s purchase. I tried to dispose of the bag, but he detected me in the act, and the result was just what I expected. He called me a traitor, told me that my time had come, and was on the very point of making his words good when Silas appeared. He came down the secret passage-way that leads from the top of the cliff, and arrived just in time.

“We tied Smirker, put him on a horse, and started to carry him to our cave. As it was rather early – we make it a point never to go in and out of the cellar during the day-time – we dismounted to wait until it should grow dark. While we were sitting in our place of concealment, Richard came down the ravine, and I knew that he was about to make another attempt to capture you. I hurried down the mountain, reached the cellar before him, held a short consultation with Juan, called Romez out of the stable to assist us, and by the time Richard arrived we had a nice little surprise in store for him. I poured a bucket of water over my head – that was to make me look as if I had just come out of the lake, you know – and Juan, who had on the same clothes he wore on the night he was thrown over the cliff, made himself hideous by putting a little red paint on his forehead. Romez perched himself upon the top of the cellar wall with my dark-lantern in his hand, which, by the aid of green cloth and a wide band of birch bark around the bull’s-eye, was so arranged that it would reflect only a narrow streak of green light; and when Richard came in Juan and I were walking across the cellar with the light shining full in our faces. He had come prepared for just such an emergency as this, and drawing his Derringers from his pocket, he fired them both at Juan; but finding that the old fellow didn’t fall as he expected he would, he threw down his weapons and took to his heels. I’ve got them now,” added White-horse Fred, drawing the Derringers from his boots. “I may have a chance to try them on Joe Hale to-night, and if I do he’ll drop. There are bullets in them this time.”

“Were there no bullets in them before?”

“Not when they were fired at Juan. You see, Richard is too much of a gentleman to do anything for himself that he can make another do for him. He thinks Ithuriel, his servant, can be trusted to any extent, but, as it happens, he is one of the best friends we have, and it is through him that we have learned so much about Richard and his doings. Richard told him to load his Derringers very carefully, adding that he wanted them to shoot something that had appeared to him the night before. Ithuriel, knowing very well what that something was, charged the pistols heavily with powder, but put in no bullets. He came straight down to Juan, and told him what he had done, and so when Richard pointed his pistols at us, we were not afraid of them. I guess now I have told – Halloo! There he is. Come on, Julian.”

Fred, bringing his story to a sudden close, put spurs to his horse, and dashed away at the top of his speed.

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE ATTACK ON THE RANCHO

JULIAN was not long in discovering the cause of his brother’s excitement. It was a white horse which was moving along the mountain path a short distance in advance. He ran heavily as if almost ready to drop with fatigue, and carried on his back a man dressed in Mexican costume. The horse was Bob, and his rider was Pedro.

A race ensued at once. Bob was as fleet as the wind, but he was wearied with his night’s travel, and the pursuers, mounted on their fresh horses and led by Silas Roper, who coiled up his lasso as he went, gained rapidly. The white horse disappeared in a thickly wooded ravine; but Silas and his party soon came up with him standing motionless in the path, and Pedro was seen darting into the bushes which lined the base of the cliff. An order to halt, followed by the whistle of a lasso and the ominous click of three revolver locks, brought him to the path again, where he stood holding his hands above his head in token of surrender. Silas and Romez dismounted, bound the prisoner hand and foot, and after concealing him behind a log that lay at the base of the cliff, the party resumed its journey as if nothing had happened, Fred leading the white horse. As this incident had been confidently looked for, it brought no comments from any one except White-horse Fred, who said, as he resumed his place by his brother’s side: